Cytoglobin-expressing cells in the splenic cords contribute to splenic fibrosis in cirrhotic patients.

Background And Aim: Among several noninvasive evaluation methods of portal hypertension (PH), the measurement of spleen stiffness is a reliable method for predicting esophageal variceal bleeding; however, the underlying mechanisms for increased stiffness remain unclear. We attempted to elucidate the pathological changes to the spleen and the underlying mechanisms in patients with PH.

Methods: Histological examination was performed using splenic tissues from 42 patients with PH who underwent laparoscopic splenectomy, and the results were compared with those from patients without PH.

Bronchobiliary fistula caused after hepatectomy for hepatocellular carcinoma: a case report.

Background: A bronchobiliary fistula, an intercommunication between the biliary tract and bronchial trees, is an extremely rare complication after hepatectomy.

Case Presentation: A 70-year-old male underwent partial resection of the liver for recurrent hepatocellular carcinoma under a thoracoabdominal approach. The immediate postoperative clinical course was uneventful, but the patient was febrile and laboratory examinations revealed leukocytosis on the 15th postoperative day.

Splenectomy attenuates murine liver fibrosis with hypersplenism stimulating hepatic accumulation of Ly-6C(lo) macrophages.

Background & Aims: Splenectomy in cirrhotic patients has been reported to improve liver function; however the underlying mechanism remains obscure. In the present study, we investigated the mechanism using a murine model, which represents well the compensated liver cirrhosis.

Methods: C57BL/6 male mice were allowed to drink water including thioacetamide (TAA: 300 mg/L) ad libitum for 32 weeks.

Primary squamous cell carcinoma of the liver: an uncommon finding in contrast-enhanced ultrasonography imaging.

Primary squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the liver is rare tumor with an unfavorable prognosis. We report a case of advanced primary SCC of the liver arising adjacent to a nonparasitic liver cyst, invading into the right diaphragm and the right lung tissue. Contrast-enhanced ultrasonography (CE-US) demonstrated unique enhancement in the late vascular phase, which was incompatible with those observed in hepatocellular carcinoma, cholangiocellular carcinoma, or metastatic adenocarcinoma.